IFA or Psychologist?

michaels

Perhaps the OP is asking if there is some way of using their excess savings (they have considerably more funds available than they need to maintain their lifestyle) to hedge against a tail risk of financial Armageddon?

I guess this hedge could range from anything between an annuity to a big short to moving to a free-holding in Wales and stock piling baked beans.....

mollycat

I would say an IFA is definitely not required, and a Psychologist would not be the best use of (say) £100/hour.

Given your extensive assets, some very clear over-worrying and anxiety going on here; maybe it's a lifelong personality trait and Brexit/Trump are the latest themes to focus on, or it's more a reaction to forced redundancy.

Loads of online resources to google with regard to dealing with worry.

A good book is "Manage Your Mind by Gillian Butler; it's not just for those that are unwell, it also has good chapters regarding gaining perspective in one's thinking, managing negativity and pessimism etc, etc.

As others have said, you are well set for retirement financially, try and enjoy it.

Good luck.

thickasabrick

Neither.
I think you've answered the question yourself.

Half of me is thinking that if we don't start getting out & enjoying life a bit more, we'll ending up dying rich & wishing we'd done more.

Pat_Fleming wrote: »

I took the redundancy/retirement option last year at the age of 58

My wife is older than myself & is already claiming State Pension.

We have no children or dependants. No need to plan financially beyond our own lifetimes. Both currently in good health.

We like to have a couple of European holidays a year & maybe the odd weekend away.

Having written all this down, in the cold light of day I know that it looks like I've got nothing to worry about.

Half of me is thinking that if we don't start getting out & enjoying life a bit more, we'll ending up dying rich & wishing we'd done more.

Pat_Fleming

Thank you all for the (mostly) kind replies.



As I stated in the original post, I don't really know what I expected to get out of it. I suppose I am maybe just looking to see if there are people in a similar situation with a similar outlook. Maybe it's being forced into making plans that are all based around the last part of our lives? Or maybe I'm just over-thinking things.


I'm certainly realising that it is not easy to change the habits of a lifetime! Someone once told me that people often save & save, putting money away for a "rainy day" that often never comes.



While I know how to save, I don't really know now what I am/was saving for! I've made plans to bridge a gap that no longer exists. I've realised that in a lot of cases, I don't even know how to access those savings and/or investments. Terry Towelling asked if the was even an actual question in my post. And there wasn't. My head hadn't even got that far.
But as there seem to be people who are not just writing me off as a crank, I now have some specific questions. How do I get the best value from my investments? Is there a hierarchy when it comes to releasing assets? What do I keep longest? Are there any tax implications that we could fall foul of? All of this is just coming to me now, as I write. There may be more......

jennyjj

Pat_Fleming wrote: »

As I stated in the original post, I don't really know what I expected to get out of it. I suppose I am maybe just looking to see if there are people in a similar situation with a similar outlook. Maybe it's being forced into making plans that are all based around the last part of our lives? Or maybe I'm just over-thinking things.


I'm certainly realising that it is not easy to change the habits of a lifetime! Someone once told me that people often save & save, putting money away for a "rainy day" that often never comes.



While I know how to save, I don't really know now what I am/was saving for! I've made plans to bridge a gap that no longer exists. I've realised that in a lot of cases, I don't even know how to access those savings and/or investments. Terry Towelling asked if the was even an actual question in my post. And there wasn't. My head hadn't even got that far.
But as there seem to be people who are not just writing me off as a crank, I now have some specific questions. How do I get the best value from my investments? Is there a hierarchy when it comes to releasing assets? What do I keep longest? Are there any tax implications that we could fall foul of? All of this is just coming to me now, as I write. There may be more......

You'l find that as with most things, when you figure out the questions, the answers will figure themselves out.

You raised some specifics, let's see...
Best value... Well, if you have any interest bearing debt, get rid of that first. There are plenty of savings threads in the savings and investment sub-forum. Generally load up the types of accounts that will safely give you 4 or 5% returns, then funnel as much as you can into sipps and ISAs especially if you have unsheltered stocks and shares. Push as much as you can into SIPPS, to get that 20% tax relief which is free money on the 2880 that both you and the wife can subscribe - maybe more if you have earnings.
Release assets out of the accounts that give you the lowest return. If you have equities, then review them something like quarterly to weed out any dogs and to stop yourself being overweight in one asset, such as the shares from an employee scheme. Consider p2p lending with the likes of ratesetter.
Make the most of both your own and your wife's tax free allowances and savings, by maybe shifting assets between you.
If you have santander shares, ditch them to avoid a requirement to complete spanish tax forms.
If you can use Excel or similar, create a list of liquid assets, with equities, bank accounts, pension pots etc down the side and dates along the top. Update it at least monthly. You will probably see that after a year, your liquid assets have barely dropped and you should relax more.

And then have another beer.
:beer:

moneyfoolish

Hi Pat,


I'm in a similar situation to yourself although I have a slightly higher pension and more expensive house but less funds than yourself. I'm also older than yourself as I'm 73 and didn't retire until I was 68.


I have no investments other than savings and I use all the high interest current accounts, regular savers, SIPPs and National Savings bonds. I've been tempted to invest in equities many times over the years but almost caught a cold in the Technology Sell Off a good few years ago. In retrospect, I know it was a mistake not to invest but now feel that at my age I don't want the risk of a downturn in the markets with insufficient time to regain my losses.



I have final salary pensions of over £30,000 gross plus a State Pension of over £7,000 and my wife also has a State Pension but no other income. Our house is worth about £450,000 and we have about £240,000 in savings. Before I retired I saved easily as I'm fairly frugal, especially with myself. Since I retired, we have taken more holidays but, I guess, still less than many people as we now have 2 every year. However, they tend to be more expensive than previously as we've had a river cruise and we only stay at 4 or 5 star hotels now. I pay for all our holidays on interest-free credit cards which I pay back monthly over around 2 years. We also spend a lot more money on eating out than we ever did previously and spend a lot on our children and grandchildren.



I'm at the point where expenditure matches income so even with our increased spending our savings are staying constant although obviously worth less because of inflation.


I would spend a lot more if it wasn't for the fact that I want to leave a reasonable amount to our children (we have 4) especially as 2 of them will never earn enough to have a pension or be able to buy a house unless we leave them sufficient money.

atush

Does she give you part of her unued PA each year?

I would consider drawing some of the sipps (using BR bands) and putting them into S&S isas perhaps.

But you do seem to have a lot of both cash and investments. Given you have no dependents I think you can consider some spending- on house maintenance/improvements (esp if you want to stay in t he hosue long term) and upgrading cars/whtegoods if needed.

You may also want to decide who gets your money after the second death as you may have quite a bit to leave to other relatives/charity etc.

Did you put your redundancy ove 30K into pension?

Terry_Towelling

Pat_Fleming wrote: »

Thank you all for the (mostly) kind replies.

Sorry, Pat. My reply was perhaps a little unkind.

Pat_Fleming wrote: »

Terry Towelling asked if there was even an actual question in my post. And there wasn't. My head hadn't even got that far.

It was @Dazed and Confused who was querying whether there was a question; I just found it in the title of your post.

Pat_Fleming wrote: »

I'm certainly realising that it is not easy to change the habits of a lifetime! Someone once told me that people often save & save, putting money away for a "rainy day" that often never comes.

I fell into a similar 'rainy day' trap - couldn't work out why I was saving so much. Then in 2007 the drizzle started. By 2009 it had turned to rain. It got heavier in 2012 and I now understand exactly why I was saving and what I'm probably going to have to spend it all on when the rain gets worse. Because of this, I urge you to enjoy life as much as you possibly can whilst you are still able - you have money to burn; just make sure you do so before the fire goes out.

Pat_Fleming

atush wrote: »

Does she give you part of her unused PA each year?
Yes. I have been claiming the marriage allowance since I became a basic rate taxpayer.




I would consider drawing some of the sipps (using BR bands) and putting them into S&S isas perhaps.
I've never considered that. What is the advantage please?




But you do seem to have a lot of both cash and investments. Given you have no dependents I think you can consider some spending- on house maintenance/improvements (esp if you want to stay in t he hosue long term) and upgrading cars/whtegoods if needed.

You may also want to decide who gets your money after the second death as you may have quite a bit to leave to other relatives/charity etc.
We've talked about the charity side of this. Don't really know what to do about family. We have nephews & nieces but these now have families of their own (who may in turn have their own families by the time any decisions need to be made) so don't really know what to do in the longer term.


Did you put your redundancy over 30K into pension?

Anything over the HR tax rate went into my SIPP. I've always considered myself to be reasonably good with money. However, it turns out that I might only be good at hoarding it! And if that's true, there was maybe no point in the first place?

Ganga

Without coming across as someone who is jealous/envious of people who come on this forum asking for info/help/guidance and have more money than a small african nation and keep on saving/do not like spending it.,What is the point if you have no enjoyment and no one to leave it to,what happens if bad health comes knoking.the wife runs of with the gardener etc.
Remember you cannot take it with you ( well you can always put it in the coffin ) spend it whilst you still have you health and the mental capacity to enjoy it.